My Christmas Tale

"I wanna be a billionaire so freakin' bad..." that was my cellphone ringing at 9:30 am as I was standing in the bus two blocks away from home. I picked it up and about an hour latter was entering the main office door for a new job interview.

- Hi Fabio. Nice to meet you.

- Hello Christy. Nice to meet you too. 

I took in all my surroundings at once, starting with Fabio and moving on to the whole office. 

Fabio has green eyes, white skin, close-cut hair and friendly features. The first thing I noticed in the office were two frames on his wall: one had an assortment of old coins and the other one was of antique bills from all over the world. The office was simple but cozy with a computer; laptop and many papers spread all over on top of a large desk.

- So tell me, you mentioned that you found my contact on the internet and you're looking for an English teacher for your company...is that so?

- Exactly. Christy, let me tell you a bit about my company and the reason why I phoned you. This company which I founded almost eight years ago is a job bank - we specialize in providing employment, or so, we have a large databank of at least 10,000 contacts and we send job candidates to companies, firms, shops, etc. who need to recruit employees. Other than that we also train the job candidates on how to write their resume, how to close a job interview, etc. We also offer many different courses for the job candidates who lack knowledge and know-how: courses on salesmanship, secretarial skills, travel and tourism, computer training - and the new course which we just opened is English. We had an English teacher but unfortunately we had some problems working with her so we had to lay her off. She only came to give one English class to the students but this course is a six week course. 

- Oh, so I am guessing that it's just a basic English course then. How many hours is it in total?

-In total it is 42 hours. Breaking that down would be three and a half hours twice a week for six weeks.

- You mean like, three and a half hours straight?!!! To the same students???

-Well, the teacher can always give a few breaks here and there between the class, but yes, it's to the same students.

- Wow! Talk about some studying there...

- Hahahaha...yes. Here, let me show you around.

We both got up and Fabio proceeded into showing me around the whole establishment. I also noticed that he was shorter than I expected him to be (but still taller than me, hah!). Fabio opened a first door and peeked his head inside and then motioned for me to do the same. It was a large training room where about 30 some people were seated with their focus on a tall lady in her mid-thirties (who I later met as being Christine) who was giving some professional training class. From there we entered a small office room with two more girls: a secretary and the company's psychologist. Another small office, a waiting room, simple and squishy kitchen, and a bathroom on the very far end. We went back into his office and the conversation continued.

Fabio spoke quickly and objectively always staying on the points he wanted to pass to me and not opening gaps for absolutely any small talk. I didn't feel like I was in a job interview at all as he didn't care to ask me any questions and instead just went on and on about his company.

- Christy; forgive me for talking so quickly with you. I guess you can notice that I am in a bit of a hurry as I need to be off for a meeting in a few minutes.

- Yes, I noticed that...so for things to end quicker let’s talk about what matters: Payment!

- You went quite to the point.

I just smiled. He continued.

- So Christy, I will be paying you for 42 hours of your teaching, twice a week, for six weeks the total sum of X. He jotted the number down on his notepad and underlined it as if that would make the number larger and more appealing.

- I am sorry Fabio but I won't be able to work for you then.

- Why is that?

- Because that amount doesn't even come close to my price and it certainly wouldn't be worth it for me. My hour costs X and what you are offering me now only comes to a bit more than half of what I actually charge.

He stopped and stared at my face in surprise while I just stared right back at him. After a few seconds he went back to talking.

- Well Christy, you see, I am not making off any money out of this English course; I mean, at least not of this group as this is the first group and its a tryout and an investment I am making. Not to say that what I just offered you now is 10% more than what I was going to pay the last teacher. Another thing...I interviewed four other teachers just today, you are the fifth and later on this afternoon I have one last teacher to interview. But of all the four teachers that I interviewed earlier on you are definitely the most expensive.

- Well, I guess everyone has their price, no? I fixed my purse on my shoulder as a gesture that I was soon going to be walking off.
Seeing that i wasn't going to settle for less made him make his next move.

- Okay Christy, let me be real honest here with you now. I didn't like any of the other teachers I interviewed.

- Hum, I guessed so. I lifted my eyebrows in his direction.

- But I kind of liked you. You are self-confident and know your worth and I admire that in a professional. Here is my last offer for you: X. If you continue to work with us and become the official teacher for all the other groups that will follow this first one we can come back to talking and enter another agreement and I will end up paying your official price.

- Okay. Can I sleep on it?

- Not really. If you accept, you would have to start tonight.

- Tonight???

*Sheepish grin* - Umm, yes...you would be giving classes every Thursday and Friday

- And today is a Thursday...

- Well, so what do you say?

*Thinking to myself:* Let me see, many times I take 45 minutes to get to where I will be giving class for only one hour...and then I take another 45 minutes to arrive to my next class or get back home...sometimes I take even longer. Here he is actually offering what I used to charge up to a month ago (as business was going good I had upped my price just a month ago) and since its only 30 minutes from home and I would be getting paid for three and a half hours straight...do the math Christy...it's more work but it’s also worth more. I have never given class to a group larger than seven people, but hey, life is made of risks and new experiences so I guess I'll give it a try!

- Okay! It's a deal then.

And that was the start of me giving class to a large group. At 5:30 pm there I was meeting my new students: Miranda, Diana, Adriana, Amelia, Michele, Laura, Lisi, Elena, Gisele, Ricardo, Filipe, Cesar and Rafael. a total of thirteen students.

Sad to say, my mindset of these students was one of them being poor, simple people that didn't have a job and that were desperate for anything. I didn't think they were going to learn much and I felt that this would just be a quick six week "extra money" job which wouldn't make much of a difference in my life or day-to-day. I soon discovered I was more than wrong.

First class: Knowing how to hold the attention of a group of 13 students for three and a half hours straight can prove to be quite the challenge. Throwing all shyness and embarrassment to the wind I asked them all to come closer and sit in the very front so that I wouldn't have to force my voice by screaming out loud. Following that, and with butterflies in my stomach, I asked each one to say their names and experience with English. 

Miranda, a beautiful older woman with a good amount of silicone in each of her breasts which made me remember the older main actresses in the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" was the first to start: "I just returned from Switzerland with my husband and am here in Brazil for a short while. I am fluent in French and even learnt some English about twenty years ago but I have forgotten pretty much everything since then. And so now I would like to put my rusty English into practice.

- Wow French! My dream is to learn French Miranda...I think it’s a most romantic language. 

Miranda nodded her head enthusiastically.

As each one went around in a circle I came to know a little about each one of my students. 

Diana was a rich Daddy's little girl that wanted to make her own way in life and start making decisions for herself without having to depend on Daddy for every cent. What at first seemed like a snotty teenager later turned into a close friend which I keep close contact with until today. 

Adriana was a housewife that spent the last seven years of her life taking care of her two children since her husband was more than capable of supporting the whole family on his own. But since boredom kicked in she took the plunge into looking for a job in the hopes of doing something different and being more than just a loving mother and faithful housewife.

Laura's situation was pretty the same as Adriana's - with the only difference being that she had just recently cut ties with her ex-husband and was now alone in the big world in search of a job to support herself and her two sons.

Filipe and Lisi were two young adults (on their very early twenties) whose mothers were tired of supporting them and were investing on whatever came their way so that they could lay them off their backs as soon as possible. 

Cesar, Gislene, Elena and Michelle were all hard workers that saw English as being a good investment on their careers and decided to give it a try. 

I never found out Amelia's reason to learn English - but she was so persistent and consistent at it that I knew whatever reason she was sitting in my classroom was good enough. 

And then there was Rafael: audacious, cheeky, uppity and indecorously free. In the first class he pushed me almost to my limit and when I started putting him in his place he got to the point of being insolent and questioning my authority as a teacher. I knew it had to stop. I got a few tricks up my sleeve and started using them. Whenever I would ask the class to keep quiet so I could explain some important subject I had to only mentally count until three and there he was whispering to whoever was seated next to him. 

- Okay Rafael! C'mon up. Please get up in front of the class and spell your name out loud. Better yet - spell your full name. 

- What? Why?

- Ahh...I guessed that you wanted to talk so much and couldn't keep quiet for even a few moments that then you might as well come on to the front and talk to the whole class, how about it? 

- No way teacher. I am not getting up there.

I giggled like a little girl and pointed right next to where I was standing. 

- Yes you are. Come here right next to me. 

- Forget it!  I can't spell. 

- Of course you can. I will help you. 

- I am not doing it. 

- Hum??? I don't think I heard you. Being a teacher is a hard thing, but one good thing Rafael is that you have the last word. Always. My last word is that you get up here. 
I wouldn't show any signs of anger or frustration but would just motion him over with a big inviting smile. Seconds later he was right next to me spelling his name on the whiteboard, blushing so much that it looked like he had just touched up his makeup job. 

Believe me, he must have gone up to spell his name about three to four times until he finally gave up and kept quiet when asked to. 

Next class he tried pulling off some new tricks: sleeping in class, blatantly daydreaming and not paying an iota of attention to what was being taught were a few of them. But those were not the worse ones. As soon as he'd arrive in the classroom he'd make his way over towards me, hug me for the longest time he could before I'd politely push him away and also declaring as loud as he possibly could for the whole class to hear: "I loooveee yooou teacherrr..."

I would just answer curtly: - Good Rafael. I love you too but that won't make me stop getting on your case for you to pay attention and learn. As I told you, I am an evil teacher because I force all my students to learn. If they don't learn, they don't continue my students for very long. 

Every chance he could get he'd come over and try to smother me with hugs and kisses. I knew he was doing so as a form of defying my authority and trying to put me in an awkward position. But every "surprise" he'd give me, I'd come up with something that would "surprise" him twice as much. 

After the first three classes he got the point and pretty much gave up being a pert. But I could still see he made a point not to pay attention or learn a single thing I was teaching him. 

If Rafael wasn't enough, I still had to deal with Cesar. Cesar was “Mr. Good-looking" of the class. Older, with two young kids, had just separated from his wife and seemed like a hard-working and mature man - but just a bit too full of himself as well. And as if it was some curse, he decided to have a crush for guess who? Yes, non other than me: the young, completely uninterested teacher. If there was something he needed to learn was how to call a woman's attention in the correct manner. From continuously letting the whole class know he was "single and searching", wanting to know my "weekend plans" and insisting on giving me rides back home (all of which I always politely refused) and even asking other students to "tip me" into knowing he was "interested". Pleaseeeeeee!!! And I all the while I completely ignoring it all as if I never noticed a thing. And so, I guess he decided he just had to act someway which I could NOT ignore. What was that? A large, written love declaration on the whiteboard with crummy hearts and flowers drawn to add a "special touch." 

All the other students were the first ones to see his "work of art" and were all cracking up by the time I turned around and saw the last thing I wanted to see. Whiteboard eraser in hand, his love declaration was erased away in less than two seconds. 

- Thank you Cesar. Impressive artwork - next time practice on your own notebook, ok? Let’s go back to class students! 

Next class Cesar didn't appear. I guess English wasn't what he really intended to learn. Acontece. And I can't say I missed whiteboard love declarations at all.

The weeks went by and each class we became closer and closer one to another. The class shortened down to almost half its original size. Lisi got a job and wasn't able to come anymore. Because of their jobs Michelle, Elena and Gislene also had to cut their course in half. And Rafael? Well, as a teacher I knew I had to put an end to his abusive manners and show who was boss or else I would soon have other students following suit and my position as a teacher would go underwater. And so I took action:

- Hello Rafael!

- Hello teacher... let me hug you. *Another sticky, gushy hug* I lovee yoou teacherrr...

- I love you too Rafael and that is why today we will have a serious conversation!

*Question mark on his face*

- It's the following Rafael. I am not a normal teacher. I am an evil teacher - like an EVIL teacher mesmo. Why? Because I force my students to learn. I can't stand seeing a student that is coming to class but not learning, not growing and not progressing. I go crazy when I see my students daydreaming or dozing off in a class. Me tira do serio. And so I make it my personal goal to see my students come out having learnt as much as I know they have the potential to learn - and you have this potential, I really believe you do. But I know you don't come here to learn...I see that that is the last thing on your mind. How do I see that? Because you don't take my classes seriously. You don't do your homework - worse, you don't even write down the homework I pass on the whiteboard so that you can do it at home... Aha! You didn't think I noticed, right? Well, I told you I am an evil teacher and now I am just proving that to you. And so this is my punch line. Either you start showing up to actually learn English, do your best and put some effort into it or you don't have to show up anymore, ok? Think about it. Because from now on, either you learn or you don't come. 

What happened? Exactly what I expected. He never showed up again. And the whole class rejoiced!

The hardships and challenges in teaching such a large and varied group of people weren't few, but in exchange the experiences were more than worth it. I came to win the respect - and more importantly - the love of my students. My mindset about them completely changed and I came to see them as intelligent men and women who didn't accept being just mediocre and ran after what they wanted in life independent of their social status or position in life. And not only did I win their love and respect - they won mine as well. I started to plan fun activities in the form of music, charades, games, video clips, art, quizzes and tests, etc. so that the English class would become more dynamic and upbeat and inspire them to learn even more. But I also cracked the whip at times and made them prove to me in the classroom that they were also studying and applying themselves at home as well. Those Thursday and Friday classes became one of the main highlights of my week and each class something would happen that would make me start thinking about life, priorities and what I could do to grow as a teacher.

One of the most touching things happened in the middle of the course. We were all casually talking during the class break when Miranda told us she had something to say.

- As most of you must know by now I returned to live here with my husband a short while ago from Switzerland. I left my job, house, friends, family, kids, grandkids and basically my whole life to begin all over again here in Brazil. Well, I delved into depression and have been into depression since I came back. I don't need to work and I didn't come here looking to get a job. Since I live nearby I saw that there was going to be an English course and decided to join so that I could have something to put my mind into and busy myself with. I haven't smiled or laughed for a long time. I can't say I know what feeling cheerful and happy is until a few weeks ago. Having Christy as my English teacher and all of you as my classmates has been the best thing that has happened to me since I came back from Switzerland. I am going back to smiling. I sometimes even catch myself laughing! Teacher, you have no idea the how huge the impact was that you made on my life. Your cheerful way, how you always ask how our day was at the beginning of every class, your hilarious stories and embarrassing things you make us do during class made me want to go back to living life once again. I can't say I got over my depression...not at all; but before starting class I had resigned myself to being sad and hating my life here in Brazil and now I want to fight against my depression and go back to being happy and enjoying life and making friends once again. Having classes here opened my eyes that life can still be good despite my circumstances and location. Thank you so much, so much, so much. 

I smiled real wide trying to prevent the tears from rolling down. My heart swelled and I ran over to hug her while she wiped her eyes in emotion.

Ricardo was another one that surprised me. He had his own printing business and Fabio (the big boss) being one of his main clients was how he came to know about the English course. Adriana's husband would come pick her up at the end of each class and since they lived nearby my place I'd always catch a ride with them back home. One night though, she wasn't able to make it and so Ricardo volunteered to give me a ride home. Inside the car we started talking and that's how I came to know the true reason he signed up for this English course. - "I have no friends, you know. I mean, I have my wife and my daughter which I really love. But you see, I work with my wife all day and there are certain things that I just can't talk to her about because she is my wife...or that I could even talk to her about it but I already know what she is going to say and how she is going to react and sometimes it’s good to have an outsider's opinion, you know? Or just to relax...I don't have friends to relax and chit-chat with. I work a lot and when I am not working I am either at my parent's house or with my In Law's...and so I came to this English course with the intention of making new friends and seeing new faces in mind. Of course, I also love learning English and it's something I always enjoyed doing - but the true reason was meeting different people. And until now everyone I met is amazing. The way we bonded as a group, how each person adds up to the group as a whole - and seriously, I've never seen 3 and 1/2 hours go by so quickly! And the best part is that I know that this friendship will continue and that feels so great."

As I got out of his car and went inside my apartment; once again I was filled with that warm fuzzy feeling that no physical or material thing can give you because it's something that comes from inside, something from the heart. 

One night, as soon as the class was over all my students took me for pizza night out as a sign of their gratitude. I was deeply touched and had loads of fun that night. My talent as a story teller also grew and improved considerably as I practiced every class telling them some of my funniest life experiences - most of them being recent stories of my life as a teacher. They found out about my blog; and even though none of them can read English well enough to understand my blog stories, they still all went in to "take a peek at our teacher's personal life" - hah! Contrary to the very first classes I gave them, I was now enjoying teaching and at every class they left me with my jaw hanging open as they surpassed my expectations in their English learning process.

As we all know, every good thing sooner or later comes to an end - and this time was no exception. Our penultimate class we all decided to pitch in with some money to make our own little private End of the Course (and also Christmas) party. I organized some games and Amelia bought a assortment of snacks and beverages. Ricardo arrived with a huge cooler full of beer and Smirnoff. Laura gave me an enormous Christmas basket full of goodies and also brought cider for everyone to drink to their heart's delight! Miranda came along with a special gift she had gone out to buy for me (because of her depression she rarely left her house and so the fact that she had gone shopping to get me a present was a big deal). Her husband joined us in our party and fit right in our lively group. As soon as everyone left the company (Fabio, his partner, the secretary, etc.) the real fun began. We turned on the loud speakers and everyone started grooving. Me and Diana decided to be "Panicats" and created our very own "Panicats Dance". Laura and Adriana quickly joined in. We then all had our "Passarela Moment" and each girl had to catwalk across the classroom while everyone else cheered her on. The bottle dance (Brazilian dance which you have to put a bottle on the floor and booty shake all the way down until you touch the bottle) could not be forgotten and two bottles were broken in the process - uh oh! Pictures, eating, drinking, good conversation and the final champagne opening and toasting made it a true night to remember!!! 

The 23rd of December was the last class of our course. It was the one class where we talked more than anything else. Each student commented on how much and how well they had learnt English and the difference it was already playing in their professional lives and almost to the end Ricardo decided to give a short speech:

- All my fellow students I would first like to say that this is a very sad day for me as I know that it will be the last day of a wonderful six week course. During this time I have met incredible people, made new friendships and learnt a whole lot of English. Honestly, the first time I saw our teacher with her fancy little green suit and high heels I shook my head in disappointment. She seemed so sure of herself, proud and a true "patricinha" that I was sure I'd hate it and was already regretting having signed up for this English class. But since I had already paid for it I didn't have much choice other than endure it. But speaking for all of us, you surprised us - in a good way of course - and I will always be proud to say I had the craziest teacher of all Fortaleza!!!

Miranda tried to follow Ricardo and give a speech but after the second phrase was bursting in tears. Emails, phone numbers and promises of keeping in touch were the last few things that I remember before arriving back home and sitting on the stairs of my apartment and entering into a long trail of thought. 

I didn't think I would have a "Christmas Tale" to tell and thought it would just be another long, tiresome, materialistic Christmas with twice as much traffic jams, long lines and work than usual. But I was wrong - once again I woke up to what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about others. About people. About relationships. About opening your life and heart to others that are not from your everyday common circle of friends. It's about discovering new experiences and enjoying the simple things in life. It's about learning not to judge others because of their outward cover and seeing that we all have something to give and something to receive. I am sure I received a lot more from these students than all the English in the world I might have taught them in that short six week period of time -because what they gave me is a lesson in life that I will carry on for as long as I may remember, wherever I go, whoever I meet and for whatever life may bring. 

My message for all my readers this Christmas: Open your life to others. To those who you may feel don't have much - if anything - to offer you. To those who are not from your same social or financial status. To those who you might at first not feel attracted to or interested in. To someone who may act, think and even dress differently than you do. Live for others and you will soon find out that others will in turn live for you.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. 
Albert Einstein 

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. 
Mohandas Gandhi 

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. 
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Disclaimer: ALL NAMES ARE FICTITIOUS - dates, places and events are FACTS!!!